URI targeting NCAA Tournament return

Bill Koch Journal Sports Writer BillKoch25

Tuesday

Oct 1, 2019 at 6:10 PM

SOUTH KINGSTOWN --- The role of the underdog has certainly suited the University of Rhode Island in the past.

The Rams were pressing towards two decades without an NCAA Tournament berth before making a triumphant return in 2016-17. URI was a No. 8 seed when Tyson Wheeler, Cuttino Mobley and Antonio Reynolds Dean helped lead the program past blueblood Kansas and into the 1998 Elite Eight.

So it’s here we find the Rams in venerable Keaney Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon, evicted from the Ryan Center on the second official day of practice due to a private event. Doors were closed and onlookers gleaned whatever information they could through thin vertical windows. There is no formal tipoff event – an open practice for fans, a late night concert for students – currently planned between now and an Oct. 26 exhibition game against Rhode Island College.

“I think we’re going to surprise some people to be honest with you,” URI coach David Cox said. “I think at the end of the year we’ll be right there in the mix for an A10 championship.”

So perhaps this is all by design. The five URI starters from last season’s Atlantic 10 tournament semifinal loss to St. Bonaventure return, including senior guard Jeff Dowtin and senior forward Cyril Langevine, all return. Both should be comfortably among the top 10 players in the league, if not potentially the top five. Fatts Russell, Tyrese Martin and Jermaine Harris will all be forced to take steps forward if the Rams hope to return to March Madness.

“Everybody got better – Jermaine especially,” Langevine said. “Me, Jeff, Fatts, Tyrese – everyone came together this summer. We put it in our mind that we were going to get better and that’s what we did.”

How the rest of URI’s pieces fit could ultimately determine its fate in 2019-20, and therein lays the mystery. Georgetown transfer Antwan Walker sat out last season while junior college transfers Jeremy Sheppard and D.J. Johnson will also debut. Dana Tate played some key minutes off the bench. Mekhi Long, Jacob Toppin and Gregory Hammond are all true freshmen.

“It’s always good to have talent for competition and for depth so guys can bring it on a daily basis,” Cox said. “We’ve seen that since the summer. I think this is probably one of the deepest rosters we’ve had in some time talent-wise.”

Dowtin, Langevine and walk-on guard Eric Dadika are the only remaining players who were in uniform for the program’s four most recent NCAA games. URI was a whisker from upsetting Oregon in Sacramento three years ago and bowed out to a talented Duke team in Pittsburgh two years ago. Dowtin bitterly recounted having to watch last year’s tournament on television.

“Not being able to get there three times in a row, I’ve just got that chip on my shoulder,” Dowtin said. “It’s my last year and I’ve got to get back, and I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

The Rams have certainly scheduled accordingly, booking home games against Providence, Alabama and Western Kentucky alongside road games at Maryland, West Virginia and Middle Tennessee. November includes two games on a neutral floor at the Jamaica Classic, with LSU serving as the opponent in the Nov. 24 finale. URI also plays home-and-home against fellow conference contenders VCU, Davidson and Dayton.

“Those are my own personal expectations – to win the A10 championship and get to the NCAA Tournament,” Cox said. “Just the way the landscape is nowadays, we had to give ourselves a chance by taking these opportunities and these challenges in the nonconference schedule.

“I do feel that we have a talented team. And I do feel like every game on our schedule is a winnable game. They will be challenging of course, but I do believe in this roster.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25

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